A small bit of relief washed through the scavenger at Mida’s answer. The fear of another Reaper attack right after the last lessened. Mida was right. With both Sankru and Trikru together in one location, it would be unwise to attack so many warriors at once. That reassurance would help Max sleep for the next couple of nights, instead of staying up worrying if the Reapers would strike them all in the darkest hours of night when they were unaware. Too many warriors. For now, they were all safe.
But…the journey home. The idea of returning home filled Max with utter excitement. Returning to the ruins. Digging through the sands like nothing had happened. The scavenger wanted nothing more. But not at the cost of her own people. They were already wounded. If they left too soon and the Reapers struck, Max wasn’t positive about their survival possibilities.
Max looked over at Mida, watching for a moment as she washed the dirt and blood from her face. “No. I was not harmed. Not even a scratch on my other arm. See?” She gestured to her metal arm for a moment, holding it up for the Baka to see. “I was only wondering. I don’t know how well I would hold up against a Reaper. They are not like other warriors. They just…kill. I mean, warriors kill but it’s different. They are still human. The Reapers are different.” Scary. Terrifying. Gone for the moment.
"Any warrior worth the title kills out a necessity to protect their people, those who kill for anything less are simply brutes, and reapers are even worse than that. They're not human, not any more, whatever happens in that mountain -- it changes them somehow." The conversation with Vada had been an eye opener to say the least. The Heda's own father as a reaper, it was something she could hardly even contemplate. He had been a good man, and brave to the end -- or at least what they had perceived as the end. Mida could still remember the day Vada had returned after the attack, how she was told her of what her father had done to save her, albeit with a vulnerability she would never show in public now. She knew for a fact the man would not attempt to kill his own daughter if there was any of him left in that body, and the thought made her blood run cold. She had always assumed they ate the bodies they took, or something close to it, but perhaps certain ones became reapers too. It made sense when she actually began to think on it, but she didn't want to. Once she had finished on her face, she began scrubbing the wet cloth over her arms, all the while listening to Max's words. It was hardly the same as a bath, but it would do for now. She didn't have time for such things yet, she simply needed to rinse some of the blood from her skin. "Good." She replied with a faint chuckled when Max held up her metal arm, finding it funny that she seemed to care for that more it than the one which could have actually caused blood-loss, but then again, it was Max's creation. "Well, I pray you'll never be put in that position, but I believe you'd fare better that you think. I mean, look at Tribeca; she held her own well enough, even managed to kill one of them, and I'd say you both have the same skills when it comes to such things." The Baka commented, hoping both this scavenger and the youngest one would never be put in that situation again, ever. "Different is one way to put it."
